Public Service

Outside the practice of law, Mr. McHugh has had deep involvement in community affairs. He is a life-long resident of the West Philadelphia neighborhood in which he was born and raised, where he has raised his own family. In 1983, he co-founded Hospitality House of Philadelphia, an award winning program helping to rehabilitate ex-offenders, and chaired the Board for twenty years. He has used his legal ability to promote neighborhood safety by bringing a nuisance action against a local business that was engaging in illegal drug sales, winning an injunction that halted its operation.

Related to that effort, he designed and led the building of a community garden to replace a debris-filled lot. He also served as an officer of the Firehouse Farmer’s Market, an economic development
project in his West Philadelphia neighborhood.

He helped establish a foundation, Lawyers Concerned for Kids, to support programs promoting the welfare of children and families. Its initial project was a thrift store in a low-income neighborhood
designed to provide low cost, high quality clothing and accessories for children. As part of the project, he devised guidelines for screening donations for quality and safety, and developed a set of consumer education materials.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court appointed him to three terms as Chair of the Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Board (IOLTA), which raises millions of dollars annually for the support of legal services for the poor. Under his direction, the IOLTA Board dramatically increased funding, and helped establish unique clinical education programs at Pennsylvania law schools promoting ideals of public service. Beginning in 1999, he led a restructuring of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation, a nonprofit affiliate of the organized bar, which promotes equal access to justice. In 2004, he was asked to join the Board of Pennsylvania Legal Services, the umbrella agency for legal services to the poor in Pennsylvania.

Among his many awards for community service are the Fidelity Award of the Philadelphia Bar Association, the first Annual Community Service Award of the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers
Association, the Equal Justice Award from Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, the Young Lawyers Community Service Award of the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Distinguished Advocate Award of the Support Center for Child Advocates, and the Friends of Farmworkers Award.